Tina Fey’s war correspondent is a bit glib in ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’

Tone means everything in comedy — any kind of comedy. With a rollicking black comedy set in a war zone, the tone necessarily goes plural, as the story careens from the abruptly tragic to the blithely, weirdly funny and back again.

“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” learns this lesson the hard way, and while it’s no disaster, it’s oddly indistinct and uncertain.